Host John Shuck of KBOO in Portland, Oregon speaks with Penpa Tsering, the new Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Office of Tibet, based in Washington DC. He was elected to this post in May. Previously he was a member of the Tibetan Parliament in exile where he served as speaker since 2011.

In this exclusive interview they discuss Tibet’s history, geography and spirituality.

What does it mean to be a country-in-exile?

How does a people who value spirituality above all else express their need to an atheistic, materialistic colonial power?

They discuss China’s demographic aggression, its exploitation of Tibet’s natural resources and environmental abuses of Tibet’s land and rivers, and the urgency before the United States to pressure China to solve peacefully the Tibet crisis. They also discuss how 13 centuries of Buddhism has shaped the people of Tibet and may be the spiritual resource that can be a beacon in a dark time of destruction for our shared Earth home.